


Ghost Towns (oneshot)

by transjnpr



Category: RWBY
Genre: Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25443433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transjnpr/pseuds/transjnpr
Summary: WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTENT CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE RWBY NOVEL BEFORE THE DAWN. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.After the Fall of Beacon, Nolan Porfirio is left with nothing. No family, no team, no hope. It'll take some extra motivation and a little help to get him back on his way again.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 38





	Ghost Towns (oneshot)

**Author's Note:**

> hi i think this is the saddest thing i've ever written 
> 
> anyway i love one depressed gay man and i will protect him with my life  
> here's the song that inspired the name bc it fits really well and also it's good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MUA9hoDa40

In both a literal and figurative sense, everything was crashing down.

Grimm crawled over crumbling buildings as more and more showed up, drawn out by the ever-growing negativity that gathered among every person still living in the city. Clouds were moving to cover the moon as if to hide it from the turmoil.

The screaming of people and howling of Grimm all mixed in Nolan’s mind. He felt numb, still wanting to deny what had happened, hoping that this was just a nightmare and that he’d wake up in one of Beacon’s dorms to his team’s smiling faces any moment now.

_Roy…_

When Nolan had seen the Nevermore diving for his teammate in the distance, he’d run faster than he ever had in his life and it still hadn’t been enough. He’d still been too late.

If he’d just been faster or had a longer-ranged weapon...maybe then, he could have done something. But he hadn’t been. He didn’t. And now he’d never seen his friend again, of that he was sure.

And to make matters worse, he couldn’t find the rest of his team. He’d been separated from them early on in the battle when he’d chased after an Ursa that had cornered a first-year, and then he'd seen them desperately attacking the nevermore that had taken Roy. He'd been too far away to hear their cries, but just imagining it hurt deeply. And then, he'd been distracted by an Beowolf attack, and had lost sight of them both. He was sure they'd gotten away. But if they'd all failed to save him...how were they even supposed to face each other?

At least, if he could even _find_ them. He couldn’t see either of them in the crowd as he pushed his way through it, though there was so much utter chaos that it was hard to tell. He prayed that maybe they’d made their way onto the transports; maybe they were on their way home and he could meet up with them later.

 _Come on May, where are you? Brawnz…_ His chest tightened. _I shouldn’t have gotten distracted. I should have gone to them anyway, Beowulf or not. I shouldn't have left their side in the first place._

He headed for where the nevermore had been. maybe they were still around somewhere. As he neared the fresh ruins of a building that had once been a milk bar, he saw something, something familiar. His heart lurched and he ran, dropping to his knees to grab it, praying it was something else.

But no, this was definitely May’s beanie. May’s beanie that she’d never take off in a million years.

 _Maybe it just fell off and she didn’t have time to pick it up,_ he desperately tried to tell himself. But his hope drained quickly when he realized parts of the fabric in his hands were damp and the sharp, metallic smell that rose from it was not sweat. His fears were only confirmed when he lifted his head and noticed May’s sniper rifle half-buried under a fallen wall, crumpled and surrounded by a pool of blood.

Nolan’s hands shook and he drew a shaky breath. This couldn’t be happening. Not May, not sunny, cheeky May, who could always be counted on in a pinch. His hands tightened on the blood-covered beanie. Briefly, fury burned inside him. How could she have deserved this? How could _any_ students have deserved this?

Had had to find Brawnz. He had to find Brawnz so that the two of them could go together, find whoever was behind this, and tear them to shreds. For Roy and May and whoever else had been claimed by this battle.

He stumbled to his feet, May’s beanie still in his hands. He wouldn’t let go of it, not when it was all he had left of her. He’d keep it with him forever now, as part of a tradition he’d started when his uncle had died and continued when his parents had passed away as well. He’d always keep a part of them close.

He scanned the landscape in front of him. A few Grimm still paced in the distance, waiting to find someone to prey on.

Above him, a cloud drifted away from the moon and allowed a slender bean to shine down onto the desolate scene. Following where it hit, Nolan spotted something among the rubble.

No, some _one_.

If Nolan’s heart had lurched before, it all but stopped now.

 _No,_ he thought desperately. _No, no, no, no, no…_

It couldn’t be. Not him. Of anyone, it _couldn’t be him_.

He forced himself to run over to the body, every part of his body stiff with terror. _Please, no…_

He collapsed beside it and agony coursed through his body as he saw the face, his worst fear coming true.

“Brawnz,” He managed to whisper, his voice strained. He lay a hand gently on the other boy’s face, trying to pretend it wasn’t colder than it should have been. “Please, get up.” He begged. “Please…we had a plan…”

His mind flew back.

_“You want me to_ what? _”_

_Brawnz rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I mean, only if you want to!” He clarified. “I just…I know you’ve been staying in a shelter since your parents…you know,” He looked at the ground. “I figured, maybe if you lived with me, you wouldn’t be so alone during the holidays.”_

_As touched as Nolan was, he still felt unsure. “But your mother…”_

_Brawnz grabbed his hands in his own, clasping them gently. “I know she hasn’t met you in person yet, but she’ll love you, I promise!” He insisted. He grinned. “And I was actually thinking…I might move out before too long. We could find our own place in the city somewhere, where’s it’s safe.” He smiled, his dark eyes hopeful. “And maybe after that…who knows?”_

_Nolan found himself welling up. “That sounds…I’d love to…” Embarrassment washed over him as he felt his face turning red._

_Brawnz tilted his head cheekily. “It’s not very Vacuan to cry, you know,” Nolan expected him to tease him, as he would anyone else, but instead his boyfriend pulled him into a warm hug. “But you can do it around me,” He assured him softly. “I don’t mind.”_

So, Nolan wept. He collapsed over his boyfriend’s body with an agonized scream and let the tears flow, crying harder than ever before, _hurting_ more than ever before.

_This isn’t happening. I’m dreaming._

How desperately he wanted Brawnz to gently shake him awake, to open his eyes and for all of this to be gone. To be back with him and Roy and May…

But he knew, in the bottom of his heart, that he wasn’t going to wake from this. And neither was Brawnz.

He didn’t know how long he knelt there for, just crying. It could have been a few seconds or several minutes. He wanted to stay there for as long as he could, holding Brawnz close to him, breathing in his scent before it drifted away, feeling for one last part of warmth in his body before it left completely. It was like he was feeling all the pain he’d ever felt from any injury, only there would be no medication, no warm cloth, no gentle kiss from Brawnz to take it away. Nothing would take it away.

What was left now? Without May, without Roy, without _Brawnz?_ Did anything matter?

He finally drew back and stared down at Brawnz’ face, wishing he could see those eyes open again. He wanted to scream again but all that would come out was a whimper.

His hand lay left on Brawnz’ chest, on his purple bandanna that was now torn and bloodstained. Gently, he closed his hand around the fabric and pulled it loose, clinging to it on one hand and grasping May’s beanie tighter in the other.

A snarl made him jump as a Beowulf sprinted for him, drawn over by his anguish. He leaped to his feet, passing Brawnz’ bandanna into the same hand May’s beanie was in and drew his weapon. With an agonized scream, he ran at the beast and plunged the cattle prod straight through its chest, not even needing to activate the lightning dust before it collapsed and drifted away in a cloud of smoke.

He watched the smoke dissipate, panting and shaking from both fury and grief. He could see more Grimm heading his way and for a moment, he was tempted just to let them run him down. But feeling the treasured items in his hand, he knew that wasn’t an option. If he died, nobody would keep their memories alive.

So, clutching the bandanna and beanie as close to his chest as he possibly could, he turned and ran.

“You sure you don’t need anything else, kid? You look awfully beaten-up.”

Nolan shook his head slowly. “I’m fine,” He insisted. “Just get me some water.”

“If you’re sure,” The bartender headed over to fill a glass.

In the past almost-year, Nolan had grown weary of being around people. They always asked him who he was, if he needed any help, if he was okay. He never knew what to tell them. That he was the last surviving member of a second-year Vacuan team? That nobody could give him what he wanted? That he wasn’t okay and probably never would be?

Even right now, other people in the bar were whispering.

“…Poor kid…”

“…Just skin and bones…”

“…Looks like he hasn’t slept in days…”

It was true, Nolan couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept for more than an hour. And those times had only been out of pure exhaustion. But every time he slept, he only ever relieved that night. The screams always echoed in his mind for hours after waking and he always saw their faces. It made sleeping something he’d grown to dread.

As for eating, well, there was little he could eat when he had no lien or any way to gain it outside of getting lucky enough to find some dropped on the street. He’d gotten by on finding bars that offered free water and stooping to occasional theft, which thankfully wasn’t difficult for someone having lived in Vacuo. One time when he’d grown particularly hungry while in a forest and had electrocuted a squirrel that had been unlucky enough to get too close. But seeing its lifeless body had sent horrible flashbacks into his mind and he’d almost thrown up. Instead of eating it, he’d ended up burying it under a tree. He hadn’t tried hunting since.

The bartender handed him the glass of water and he drank it in one go. It was fresher than that of the last town’s he’d stopped at, but a stale aftertaste remained in his mouth. Better than nothing, he figured.

He set the glass down. “Thanks.” He slid off the wooden stool he’d been sitting at and headed for the exit.

“Hey, be careful out there!” he heard the bartender call after him. Not responding, he left the building and continued on his way through the small town.

Since the Fall of Beacon, he’d wandered aimlessly between Vale and Vacuo, not doing much else other than surviving. Part of him wanted to go home, to Shade, but he held himself back every time. In one larger town, he’d seen a broadcast reporting on the Fall and the news had sent him running out of the building in tears.

Team BRNZ were assumed missing in action, with Roy being the only one anyone was sure of being dead. Nobody had found their bodies, nobody had seen them die- nobody who’d lived, at least. So what would people think when he walked into Shade, having to nerve to be alive when his teammates were gone, with nothing at all to offer?

No, he couldn’t go back. Even if Headmaster Theodore allowed him back in, he’d never truly be accepted.

But still, he felt the pull; a desperate urge just to go _home_.

He rested his hand on his arm, where Brawnz’ bandanna was tied tightly around his sleeve. _I wish you were with me,_ he thought achingly, _I wish we could go home together._

He still had May’s beanie too, tucked under his denim vest. He refused to wear it; nobody but her could. She’d always been so protective of it; snapping at anyone who tried to take it from her. Nolan’s chest tightened as he remembered her grumpy face, the one nobody could take seriously.

And Roy…Nolan had nothing left of Roy but his memory, but that memory was still fresh in his mind. He’d never let it go. He’d never let any of them go.

His legs began to ache as he found himself nearing an outdoor eating area. He didn’t exactly want to sit down; a few other people were seated at the wooden tables and chatting, but he made himself anyway, slumping onto a chair with a sigh and resting his head and arms on the table. He let his mind drift, imagining being back at Shade, laughing and talking with his team.

“Geez, was it that bad?”

“Yeah. Whole school’s closed for now.”

Nolan broke out of his thoughts as he picked up on a couple’s conversation. _Which school?_

“I just can’t believe it happened to Haven too.” The first person, a woman, sighed.

 _What happened to Haven?_ Nolan’s curiosity got the better of him and he turned his full attention to the conversation.

The man sitting across from the woman shrugged “Well hey, at least that faunus group intervened before it could be destroyed.”

“Still,” The woman replied. “They lost their headmaster and the students don’t feel safe there anymore. And with Atlas closing itself off, Shade’s all they’ve got to go to.”

“I’d say that’s a good thing,” The man pointed out, “Vacuo doesn’t have an army like Atlas does. If whoever’s behind these attacks goes for them next, they’re going to need all the help they can get.”

“You don’t think there’s a connection, do you?”

“Well, probably…”

The rest of the conversation faded away from Nolan as his mind stuck of the man’s words. Was Shade really in danger? If Haven had been attacked as Beacon had been…

Maybe he should go back. It was like the man had said, they’d need all the help they could get if there was any kind of threat. And if they were letting in students from Beacon and Haven…maybe, just maybe, they’d let him back in too.

He clutched at the bandanna again. He knew what Brawnz would say; ‘come on now, you’ve moped long enough. Time to start helping people again.’

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Yes. He needed to do this. He needed to go back to Shade.

The desert winds blew sand around in unkind whirlpools and the heat was so much worse than he remembered, but Nolan’s mind wasn’t on either of those things. Not when he was in the middle of a losing battle with a Jackelope that seemed to be immune to the jabs from Nolan’s cattle prod. Of course, he’d run out of lightning dust a long time ago, which absolutely didn’t help.

Months after heading for Shade, he had still not reached his goal and the further he went without seeing any sign of the academy, the more hope he’d lost. Every time he’d thought he’d found something, it had almost always turned out to be the half-buried remnants of a long-forgotten settlement or a tribe’s temporary camp that had nothing to offer but the slightest amount of food and the presence of another human being.

But mostly, it had just been desert to greet Nolan through all these months. It was beating him down, driving him crazy. Only his treasures kept him going, but even they weren’t helping much right now.

A strong kick from the Jackelope sent him sprawling into the sand, knocking the breath out of him. Every part of his body ached and he was bleeding from several wounds. He’d lost his scroll months ago, but he didn’t need it to know that his Aura was running dangerously low. He struggled to his feet and thrust his weapon at it, but the weak attempt was worth nothing to the beast. It slashed at his face with sharp front claws and he screamed in pain as his blood splattered the sand and he fell to the ground, his Aura now totally shattered.

He couldn’t lift himself again. What was the point of living, just to wander the desert some more in search of something he might never find? When he had nobody left to even keep him company?

He thought of his teammates. At least, if this Grimm killed him, he might see them again. He wasn’t sure he believed in any kind of afterlife; most Vacuans had never been particularly religious, but he hoped with all of his heart that it was true now. It would be the one good thing to have happened to him in over a year. He let a single tear drop to the sand and evaporate almost instantly as he waited for the final blow to come.

It never did.

He heard shouts nearby and a trident-like weapon flew through the air and impaled itself in the Jackelope’s side. It screeched and turned away from Nolan to face its new attackers. Nolan’s vision darkened as two figures came into view, running right for the Grimm. A quick slash of a cutlass and it was gone.

“Hey, are you okay?” One of them asked.

Nolan barely managed to push himself into a sitting position, shaking with pain as blood dripped down his face. “I…”

“Oh shit…Nolan? Nolan Porfirio?”

Nolan stared blearily at them; he recognized them now. Scarlet David and Neptune Vasilias, former Haven students. It was Neptune who had spoken.

He managed a nod in response to the question.

Scarlet crouched down to him. Nolan could tell what he was about to ask, but it didn’t hurt any less when he heard it; “If you’re alive, then the rest of Team BRNZ, are they…?”

Nolan opened his mouth to answer but it had been so long since he’d last spoken that no words would come. He could only shake his head as tears fell from his eyes and he collapsed again, partially from grief and partially from the pain he was in.

He felt Scarlet’s hand on his shoulder. “Hey, come on,” He insisted, though his voice was gentle. “You’re badly hurt. We can get you to Shade.”

 _Shade’s…nearby?_ Had he really been close?

“Come on, help me get him up,” Scarlet instructed Neptune. Nolan felt both boys at his side as they slipped their arms around him and pulled him gently to his feet. He hung limply in their grip, wishing he could take some of the weight off them, but barely being able to move.

Though his eyes were blurry from blood and tears, he noticed the faint light of the city in the distance, glowing faintly against the night sky. It really was close…and here he’d been, about to give up.

Neptune and Scarlet began to walk, and Nolan only just managed to stumble alongside them. He still shook and the pain on his face was searing.

“Hey, you’re going to be okay,” Scarlet assured him. “You’re not alone anymore.”

The gentle tone of the boy’s voice surprised Nolan. He’d never interacted much with Scarlet at Beacon, but he remembered him being snarky and standoffish…this kind-heartedness was a new side of him, and it was a comfort.

Nolan let himself begin to feel hope again. Even after everything, he found himself believing Scarlet’s words- he was going to be okay. He was going home; he was going to be at Shade again. He was going to help them, if they needed it.

And maybe he’d found the help to start feeling whole again.


End file.
